Electrogenerated chemiluminescence (also called electrochemiluminescence and abbreviated ECL) is the process whereby species generated at electrodes undergo high-energy electron-transfer reactions to form excited states that emit light. The first detailed ECL studies were described by Hercules and Bard et al. in the mid-1960s. After about 40 years of study, ECL has now become a very powerful analytical technique and is widely used in the areas of, for example, immunoassay, food and water testing, and biowarfare agent detection.
Various compounds appear to be of interest for use in organic light emitting devices (OLEDs). These compounds may be appropriate for use in solid materials, for example, or may be dissolved in organic fluids. However, no conclusion can be drawn regarding their utility in an aqueous medium as, for example, as required for detection of an analyte from a biological sample.
In general, ECL-based detection methods may be based on the use of water-soluble ruthenium complexes, comprising Ru (II+) as metal ion. Despite significant improvements made over the past decades, a need still exists for more sensitive electrochemiluminescence-based in vitro diagnostic assays.